Dusty May wants more than nine rotation players. Atlanta offered an uncomfortable demonstration Friday of how much production a deep bench can supply—and how little a long list of options guarantees.
Dallas fell 135-111 to Atlanta at American Airlines Center, a preseason result that should not be mistaken for a regular-season forecast. But it gave Dusty May a useful test of the plan he described before the game: more than nine players could have roles, with injuries and pace influencing workloads.
The challenge is less about finding enough names than finding enough players who can keep a game functional.
Atlanta’s reserves scored 69 points. Dallas’ reserves scored 35. That 34-point difference exceeded the final margin, though bench scoring alone cannot explain a preseason game built from constantly changing lineups. It does, however, show the distance between having options and getting contributions from them.
Jock Landale was Atlanta’s clearest example. He scored 16 points in 21 minutes, made 3 of 4 three-pointers, converted all five free throws and added six rebounds and five assists. Aaron Wiggins supplied 19 points and seven rebounds. Kingston Flemings had 10 points and six assists without a turnover. Those players were not simply occupying the non-starter minutes; they were adding structure and pressure.
The second quarter provided the sharpest evidence. Landale’s second three made it 47-38 with 10:29 left in the period. After his shot, Flemings’ two free throws at 10:09 pushed Atlanta’s lead to 49-38. Irving then answered with a 15-foot jumper at 9:46, trimming the margin to 49-40.
That was Dallas’ opening to steady the game. Instead, Atlanta pulled away. Landale made three free throws, Wiggins hit a three at 8:59 and Jalen Johnson followed with a jumper to make it 57-40.
Irving added one free throw, but Dyson Daniels answered with a dunk for 59-41. After an Onyeka Okongwu layup, Johnson’s dunk at 5:01 made it 63-41. Atlanta had turned a nine-point Dallas deficit into a 22-point problem while the Mavericks struggled to create clean offense.
The sequence matters because the Mavericks were not asking their deepest reserves to erase a deficit. They were asking them to avoid making a manageable game unmanageable. Dallas’ second quarter finished 8-for-24 from the field and 1-for-10 from three.
Marcus Sasser’s debut included five points in 12 minutes, but also two turnovers and no assists after he had missed three exhibitions with a left adductor issue. That is an understandable developmental outing; it is not yet a reliable answer.
There were worthwhile contributions. Sergio de Larrea played 25 minutes, scored eight points and delivered four assists, including the pass that set up Irving’s late second-quarter three. Morez Johnson Jr., back after missing two exhibitions with right shin splints, had seven rebounds and two assists.
